The wall surrounding Jerusalem’s Old City has 11 gates, seven of which are open: Jaffa, Zion, Dung, St. Stephen’s (Lions’), Herod’s, Damascus (Shechem) and New. The most famous of all Jerusalem’s gates the Golden Gate, which is sealed. The Golden Gate is unusual in that it is sealed so that no one can pass through it today. Why is the Golden Gate sealed? Jewish tradition has it that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem via this gate when he comes, so Muslims during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566) sealed the Golden Gate to keep him out.
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